


Falling in Love on Free Day

by Kariszma83



Category: 99 Red Balloons (Song)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-23
Updated: 2011-12-23
Packaged: 2017-10-27 22:40:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/300817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kariszma83/pseuds/Kariszma83
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two girls fall in love on a free day from school and end up starting a nuclear war.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Falling in Love on Free Day

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mtgat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mtgat/gifts).



Frances gasped for breath as she ran along side Penelope. She wasn’t out of shape, but this was torture. She had no idea how the girl beside her was able to keep up this pace, but she was and forcing Frances to do it as well. It was almost as if just the excitement of the day was propelling he to professional athlete pace. When they got past the lush greens that marked the boundaries of their school, Havisham Prep, they both stopped and breathed deeply.

“I LOVE free days,” Penelope shrieked, throwing her arms in the air and spinning around.

Frances giggled shyly at Penelope. Everything she did was just so...awesome.

“Let’s go eat lunch,” Penelope breathed, grabbing Frances’ hand in hers.

Frances gasped as she felt a shock when Penelope’s hand touched hers. Was it static electricity or her own heart, and did Penelope feel it too? She looked down at their entwined hands and felt the rising heat of a blush filling her face. She peeked up through the cover of her bangs to see if Penelope had noticed any of her freak-outs. She’d hadn’t as far as Frances could tell, and she breathed a small sigh of relief.

The girls slipped through the side streets to a small cafe that Penelope said she just “died for”. Frances found herself giggling and acting silly along with Penelope - something that a shy wallflower like her would never do. Penelope spoke to the shop worker in a clear unaccented French that even Frances, a native, couldn’t help but envy. After a few minutes, their arms were laden with bread, cheese, meats and drinks. Penelope led them around a few more corners until they stumbled upon what had to be the most perfect hidden park in France. It was tiny, only the size of a house, but it had trees and flowers, a giant fountain and best of all - it was empty! They spread out the blanket that Penelope had brought with in her backpack and sat down to eat their lunch. They lazily munched away at all the delicacies they had procured.

When they had finished eating, Penelope jumped up, kicked off her shoes and began to dance, jump, and tumble through the grass. Frances sat watching her. She had never met anyone quite like Penelope.

After some time, Penelope collapsed on the blanket and lay staring up at the sky. Frances watched her quietly. Penelope was the most beautiful girl she had ever seen. She wasn’t conventionally beautiful maybe, but she glowed with a vivaciousness that caught everyone up in its path. She was tall and buxom, with an amazing hourglass figure framed from the top with large full breasts and below by a bottom round and apple perfect. She had short dark hair that set off the bright greens reflected in her eyes. She was so unlike Frances herself that it almost scared her.

Frances looked down at herself. She was a very small girl, short and tiny. She thought she looked more like a young boy than a girl of any age. She had long curly red hair, too bright she thought, to be pretty. She used that hair to routinely hide behind. Frances fingered the end of a curl of hair. Her hair kept her safe from the world. She had eyes, she thought, too dull shade of blue. She had breasts and hips that were nonexistent. She wasn’t self-effacing enough to call herself ugly, but she thought herself homely at best.

Frances looked down at Penelope laying on the blanket. She had an incredible urge to lean over and place a kiss on those gorgeous full lips. Before today, she wouldn’t have even known that Penelope even knew Frances was alive and yet here she was - with the very girl she had been pining over for the past four months. But, Penelope had sashayed up to Frances’ desk in History class yesterday, all eyes in the class on Penelope’s amazing bottom framed in her short school skirt - as usual. She had asked Frances if she had wanted to spend free day together, and Frances didn’t want to even hope that Penelope might be interested in Frances the way Frances was in her. And now here they were – sitting together on a blanket on a perfect summer day, in one of the most romantic spots Frances had ever seen. Not that she would be brave enough to do anything related to romance.

Penelope rolled over and caught Frances staring at her. Penelope face lit up in a smile, and Frances’ face flushed crimson instantly. Those eyes, and that mouth sitting on top of a chest that strained against the nearly sheer fabric of her top as she balanced on her

“Hey Frances,” said Penelope, “did you ever do that thing where you make a wish on a balloon and let it go?”

Frances shook her head ‘no’ and whispered, “But I’d like to.”

“Well come on,” said Penelope jumping to her feet, “let’s do it!”

Hand in hand, Penelope pulled Frances along until they reached a tiny toy shop tucked in between two boring looking businesses. They stepped inside and found a bag of red balloons sitting alone on the shelf. They scrounged together the last of their money and purchased the bag. They left the shop and headed back to the park.

Frances began to open the bag of balloons but Penelope stopped her. “You know what would be perfect? Let’s use tonight to make a list of all the wishes. It might take a while – there are one-hundred of them! Then we’ll sneak up to the roof and set them free in the pink light of dawn. Don’t you think that would be perfect?”

“Perfect,” whispered Frances falling deeper in love with every word Penelope uttered. It sounded perfectly romantic to Frances. Maybe Penelope _was _interested in her.__

Back at school, the girls went their separate ways for afternoon work assignments, promising to meet up after dinner to make their wishes.

Those few hours were the longest that Frances could ever remember. She was sure that when the time came, Penelope would laugh in her face and tell her that it had all been a joke and she never wanted to see Frances again.

Suddenly, Frances felt a hand on her shoulder. Someone spun her around and pulled her towards them. Frances opened her eyes briefly enough to recognize that Penelope had snuck up on her, before Penelope pulled Frances’ face to her and kissed her. It was a powerful kiss, firm but soft, strong and sweet at the same time. It lasted forever yet was over before it had even begun. Frances softly sighed as the kiss ended and she opened her eyes to look at Penelope.

“What was that?” Frances whispered.

Penelope chuckled, “Exactly what I wanted to do all day long. I just couldn’t figure out the right time.”

Penelope leaned her head in and pressed her forehead to Frances’. She looked at Frances cross-eyed and burst out laughing. Frances caught the laughter and they both laughed until they ran out of breath. Penelope stole another kiss and stepped closer to Frances. The kiss deepened and their bodies pressed together. Frances felt Penelope’s fingers entwine themselves in her hair. She was hyper-aware of the feeling of Penelope’s body pressed to hers. She could feel every inch of clothing between them and wished they were all gone. She ached to feel Penelope’s hot skin on hers. Frances gulped and tried to keep from gasping. She gingerly placed her shaking hands on Penelope’s hips, curling her fingers into the girl’s soft skin. The kiss continued to deepen and both girls’ hands began to explore each other’s skin. Soon both girls were gasping with passion and reluctantly they pulled apart.

Frances looked deep into Penelope’s eyes and both slowly caught their breath. A slow smile spread across Penelope’s mouth.

“I know exactly what I’m going to wish for,” Penelope whispered. “Let’s get wishing.”

***

A low tinny sound rang through Frances’ ears. She tried to push it away from her sleepy mind, but it wouldn’t stop. Confusedly, Frances opened her eyes, and realized she had fallen asleep. The sound she had heard was the alarm on her cell phone, waking them so they wouldn’t miss the sunrise.

Frances smiled wide thinking about the previous night. She and Penelope had come up with a list of wishes. There were serious ones, and funny ones, stupid ones, and important ones. In the end they had broken one balloon, and come up with ninety-eight wishes, but for the life of them could not think of one final wish for the last balloon.

Frances felt movement and looked down to see Penelope’s hand curled around her hip. At that moment, she couldn’t smile more if she tried. This was the happiest she had ever remembered being in her life. She longed to snuggle back into Penelope’s arms, but a quick look towards the window told her that much longer and they’d miss the sunrise.

She rolled over in the bed and placed a lingering kiss on Penelope’s lips. “It’s almost sunrise,” Frances whispered to her.

Hand in hand, the girls made their way stealthily to the rooftop. They let the balloons go on the light morning breeze and watched their wishes float away. After a moment of silence, Frances felt Penelope’s hand slip into hers. She squeezed it tight.

“What should we do now?” Frances whispered without looking at Penelope.

“I want to go back to bed with my girlfriend,” yawned Penelope.

“Well let’s take care of that,” giggled Frances nervously.

***

For the second time that morning noise awoke Frances, but this time it was a sound that signaled chaos. Sirens rang through the city. Both girls jumped from the bed and ran to the window searching for the meaning of the sirens. The city below was in chaos. People ran everywhere, cars tried to make their way down blocked streets.Military forces attempted to corral people into buildings. Their school loudspeaker screeched on and all students were ordered to report to the dining hall immediately. Frances and Penelope made their way into the hallway, joining the throng of students all headed the same way. Suddenly, the entire building shook with an explosion. The chaos was amplified by the panic in its aftermath, as students ran for the stairs.

Once in the dining hall, Frances and Penelope reluctantly let go of each other to take their places at the tables. Fear was apparent on the faces of all the students as their headmistress took her place at the podium at the front of the room.

She spoke clearly, “Students; I have no way to say this nicely or sugar coat the situation. We appear to be at war. There was an attack on our country early this morning, and our government has retaliated in kind. Every French student will remain in residence unless their parents choose to collect them. Every foreign student will be immediately deported.”

At these words, the students erupted in shouts of confusion and fear. The headmaster continued, “Please go immediately to your rooms and pack your belongings. All buses will be leaving in fifteen minutes.”

Frances pushed through the crowd to Penelope. She pulled her into her arms and hugged her as tightly as she could without regard for anyone around them.

“How can I let you go when I’ve just found you?” Frances whispered, squeezing Penelope. “How will I find you again if you’re across an ocean?”

Penelope pulled back and looked at Frances long and hard, “We will be together. Don’t worry. I’ll find my way back to you. I promise.”

The girls said their goodbyes to each other, each kiss full of salty tears. Frances stood at the front of the school and watched her love being taken away from her. She waved goodbye until she could no longer see the bus through her tears.

**

Frances pulled herself out of the remains of the building she had been scouting. Food was scarce now, and every building had to be searched in order to keep them alive. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked around. She wasn’t quite sure where she was. She cast her gaze from store to store trying to place where she was. She almost gasped when it hit her. She was standing in front of _their _garden. How could she not have realized it.__

It had been seven long months since Frances had seen Penelope or this garden. The latter was deep in the throws of winter and nuclear war hadn’t been pleasant on it. The former – Frances had no idea about. She had received an email about two months ago when the Red Cross had been able to give them an internet signal for a short time. The email let her know that Penelope was alive and safe in America. That was enough to be blessed with that knowledge, but then Penelope had given Frances exactly what she wanted. She told her again that she would never stop trying to fight her way back to Frances. That thought kept Frances moving.

Frances reached into the pouch of her bag for a bottle of water. As she pulled it out, something slipped to the ground. She reached down to pick it up. It took a second for her to realize it was the balloon that she and Penelope couldn’t think of a wish for - the ninety-ninth balloon. Frances blew it up and kissed it softly.

She held the string gently between her fingers and whispered, “I wish for you Penelope, and I will never stop moving until I find you.” Almost regretfully, Frances opened her fingers and let the balloon go. She watched it rise up into the afternoon sky and turned back to the daunting task of finding food. One day this would all be over and she and Penelope would be together again. One day.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for iamtheenemy for the beta-ing.
> 
> To mtgat, I really hope you enjoy the spin I put on this song!


End file.
